Is Tri-Rail taking us for a ride?

As we waited for the 1 p.m. northbound train at the Fort Lauderdale Airport station Wednesday, Marvin Melvin told me how close he was to breaking his Tri-Rail habit.

"To be honest it could be in the next couple of weeks," he said. "After a long day's work, you don't want delays. You get frustrated. I'm tired of being frustrated."

Melvin, 54, lives in Coral Springs, works near the airport and hates rush-hour traffic. So every day for the last few months, he's driven to the Pompano Beach station and taken the train to work.

He said signal problems and delays have become frequent on the afternoon commute. This week brought a fare hike, with his daily round-trip going from $6.75 to $8.45.

"I don't know if it's worth it," Melvin said. "I really feel for people who this is their only method of transit."

We boarded our train, and 10 minutes into the trip were told there'd be a long delay. An Amtrak train ahead had struck and killed a woman in Pompano Beach.

We pulled into the Cypress Creek station and waited. Eventually Melvin made his way to buses that Tri-Rail scrambled to provide.

These circumstances were unusual, but regular riders say other delays have become too common.

In theory, I'm a big supporter of mass transit. I grew up in New York, have the subway in my genes. I wish South Florida could build a reliable transit system to ease congestion on the roads and dependence on cars.

But when you look at the reality after 20 years of Tri-Rail, a 72-mile spine that has no meaningful transit limbs in Broward or Palm Beach counties, the numbers are hard to swallow.

All told, the commuter line has spent some $1.2 billion to get where it is today.

And where is it? Strapped for cash, dependent on others for funding, threatened by budget and service cutbacks.All to serve around 14,000 riders daily in a region with 5.6 million.

For $1.2 billion, we could buy every current rider a Cadillac and wish them luck.

Last year, Tri-Rail took in $8.7 million at the fare box and spent nearly $59 million. Its administration and marketing costs alone nearly exceeded its operating revenues.

And even after a recent double-tracking project, service easily can go awry.

"It's pretty good, except for the delays and prices," said Rebecca Salman, 18, an art student who rides every day between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

For the last decade, Joe Giulietti has been executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which runs Tri-Rail. We had a long chat Wednesday.

We agreed that if we built a transit line from scratch, Tri-Rail wouldn't be the blueprint. It was conceived as a stopgap measure during Interstate 95 construction in the late 1980s. It's never had a dedicated funding source. The original mindset was that it would go away.

I asked a simple question. Twenty years ago, if someone suggested spending $1.2 billion on a rail line that would have 14,000 daily riders and an annual operating loss of some $50 million after two decades, would it be worth it?

"I don't know if I'd make that investment," Giulietti said.

But he said the question is really about 20 years in the future. If feeder services get built and regional transit sprouts, then he said Tri-Rail will have done its job.

He said it would be a major regional setback if Tri-Rail had to cut back service in the fall.

"It would make the feds more reluctant to put any more investment into transit down here, and it would make the local public more reluctant to buy into any vision for the future," he said.